Battle of Rostock

The Battle of Rostock (summer 1704) was a naval action between the fleets of the United Provinces (commanded by Jordaan Grotius) and Sweden (commanded by Emanuel Jonassen). The Swedes won a spectacular victory in which both commanding officers died; the credit went to their stronger ships as well as to the delay of the Dutch reinforcement squadron under Paul Vixeboxse.

Background
The Dutch entered the "Hanoverian War" in 1703 when Sweden declared war on their ally of Hanover, a small German state in northern Germany. The war was mainly a naval contest between the Dutch and the Swedes, the two most-powerful North Sea naval masters. Hoping to destroy Sweden's naval might forever, the Dutch admiral Jordaan Grotius and a fleet of 10 ships headed into the Baltic Sea and moored near Rostock, hoping that the Prussian fleet there would come to their aid. However, since Prussia and the Dutch were not allied, no help came.

Admiral Emanuel Jonassen's Swedish fleet of 11 ships immediately left Malmo harbor to take advantage of the cornered Dutch fleet's position, and attacked them on the shore. The Dutch admiral, confident in the ability of the Dutch navy after recent successes against France and Spain, decided to give battle.

Battle
The Dutch navy formed in one battle line horizontally, rather than vertically, as they hoped to take advantage of the lack of frontal guns on Swedish warships. The Swedes formed in a vertical, single-file line of several warships, prone to frontal and rear attack. Grotius decided to take advantage of this, sending Commodore Paul Vixeboxse and a squadron of three Dutch sloops to attack the Swedish rear while his main force concentrated fire on the Swedish capital ships.

At first, the strategy worked. The Dutch fleet concentrated their cannons on the Admiral's Flagship, 5th Rate "Charlotte", on which Jonassen was commander. Jonassen was killed by cannon fire and the Dutch hoped that this would break the Swedish resolve. However, the powerful hulking Swedish ships surged onwards, and Vixeboxse's squadron was nowhere in sight. Vixeboxse and his squadron were held back by strong winds, preventing a flanking attack. They arrived too late to link up with the other ships, and Grotius was killed in battle. Vixeboxse's ships were then either sunk or forced to withdraw, and only 3 Dutch ships made it out of the battle alive. The Swedes sunk 4 Dutch vessels and captured 3, and suffered 2 losses.

Aftermath
The aftermath of the battle was grim for the Dutch. Their remaining ships were cornered on the Jutland coast and sunk by the Swedish quickly, eliminating their North Sea Squadron. Shortly after, Stadtholder Willem was forced to pay 2,300 gulden to Sweden to sue for peace. The Netherlands' withdrawal from the war gave Sweden full control of the Baltic waters, and the Swedes could focus on the other allies.